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U.S. influence declining, report says

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. influence in world issues will decline during the next two decades as powers such as China and India gain sway, a U.S. federal report said.

The report by U.S. intelligence agencies paints a future in which the United States, while still a power, would be among a number of influential international players, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Other emerging actors include independent entities such as tribes and criminal networks, said the National Intelligence Council report, "Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World."

Its key finding is that the United States will remain the world's principal economic and military force, but its standing as an unmatched superpower could ebb as a "global multipolar system" emerges, the Times reported.

China could have more effect on the world over the next 20 years than any other country, while India will strive to become more influential, said the report released Thursday.

Tom Fingar, deputy director of National Intelligence for analysis, said there would be a "diminished gap between the United States and everybody else."

Meant as a guide for President-elect Barack Obama's administration, "Global Trends 2025" covers a number of issues, energy and natural resources, rivalry among global powers, demographics, climate change, terrorism and nuclear proliferation, The Washington Post said.

"Those states most susceptible to conflict are in a great arc of instability stretching from Sub-Saharan Africa through North Africa, into the Middle East, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and South and Central Asia, and parts of Southeast Asia," the report said.

Citigroup troubles could lead to sale

NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A precipitous slide in Citigroup Inc. shares this week has prompted talks of selling part or all of the company, sources said.

Citigroup shares have been battered by sell-offs that have led to a 50 percent decline in shares this week, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Thursday's announcement that Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud would increase his Citigroup holdings from 4 percent to 5 percent did not stop the sell off, prompted by fears the enormous bank's toxic assets and the general economic downturn will topple the company.

The slide followed the U.S. Treasury's announcement last week that it would not use the $700 bailout program to purchase toxic assets, the Journal noted.

Citigroup board members scheduled a formal meeting Friday to discuss options, while various bank divisions rushed to reassure investors.

"Citi has a very strong capital and liquidity position," a bank spokeswoman said. "We're focused on executing our strategy," which includes trimming operating costs and selling assets.

Citigroup is also lobbying the Securities and Exchange Commission to restore a temporary moratorium on short selling, the Journal said.

Obama fundraiser says no to Cabinet post

CHICAGO, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker, whose fundraising magic helped power Barack Obama's presidential bid, has removed herself from Cabinet post contention.

Pritzker squelched speculation that she was a candidate to lead the Commerce Department, said in a statement, "I think I can best serve our nation in my current capacity: building businesses, creating jobs and working to strengthen our economy," the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.

Nomination for a Cabinet post would require financial disclosures of Pritzker, who oversees part of her family's financial empire that includes the Hyatt hotel chain as well as other business ventures.

But the 2001 collapse of Superior Bank, which her family co-owned, could be a source of controversy for Pritzker during confirmation hearings, The New York Times said. Charges of fraud and mismanagement engulfed the bank as it took a national course in subprime mortgage lending.

An official with the Obama transition team told the Tribune Pritzker didn't submit information for vetting that Obama requires of candidates because she informed the team she wasn't interested in an appointment.

Pritzker, who's known Obama since the 1990s, would "continue to be a close economic adviser to the president-elect and his team," Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said in a statement. "Penny Pritzker is a trusted adviser and valued friend to the president-elect and played a critical role in his campaign."

Thousands protest security pact in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Thousands of protesters flooded Baghdad's Firdos Square Friday to protest the Iraqi government's plan to sign an accord concerning U.S. troops in the country.

The protesters, supporters of rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, hanged an effigy of President George Bush from the pedestal that once supported the statue of Saddam Hussein toppled when U.S. troops took over Baghdad in 2003, The New York Times reported.

Demonstrators chanted "Allahu akbar" -- "God is great" -- and "No, no to America; No, no to Israel" during the rally staged as the Iraqi Parliament broke from discussing the status of forces agreement that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki negotiated with the United States and which must be approved by the Iraqi Parliament.

Under the status of forces agreement, U.S. troops will withdraw from Iraqi towns and cities in 2009 and pull out completely from Iraq by the end of 2011. It would be effective after the U.N. mandate authorizing foreign troop presence in Iraq expires Dec. 31.

An aide to Sadr said the cleric's supporters, estimated to be at least 10,000, were "coming out to prove the security pact is worthless," the BBC reported.

"Today is the day of Iraqi unity among Arabs, Kurds, all communities of Iraq, to reject the security pact," Hazim al-Araji said.

First military execution since '61 planned

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A U.S. soldier convicted of rape and murder is scheduled to be executed next month in the first military execution in more than 40 years, the Army said.

Pvt. Ronald Gray, convicted 20 years ago, will be executed by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., CNN reported. The execution will be carried out by soldiers from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where Gray had been on death row since 1988.

Gray was convicted of raping and killing a female Army private and a civilian near his post at Fort Bragg, N.C., and was convicted of the rape and attempted murder of another soldier in her barracks. Military and civilian courts found Gray responsible for the crimes committed between April 1986 and January 1987, CNN reported.

In July, President George Bush approved the Army's request to execute Gray.

"The president took action following completion of a full appellate process, which upheld the conviction and sentence to death," the Army said in a news release.

The last U.S. military execution was in 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged for raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl.